11 Children's Authors to Write Short Stories in Honor of Dr. Who's 50th Anniversary

Posted on January 6, 2013

In honor of the 50th anniversary of Dr. Who, eleven famous children's authors will write short stories starring the various incarnations of the Doctor. The BBC reports that the names of the authors are a secret which will be revealed each month. Each short story will retail for priced at 1.99 British pounds. The first author and e-short story will be revealed tomorrow on the Dr. Who Facebook page. The first story will feature the first regeneration of the Doctor, which was played by William Hartnell from 1963-1966. In November, Puffin will publish a paperback of all the stories.

The first story will be released on Wednesday, January 23rd. Each month there will be a promo video of each author available on the BBC's Youtube channel, beginning Friday, January 11, 2013. Publisher Juliet Matthews had this to say about the project: "We are delighted to have 11 sensational children's authors involved in the series, all bringing an individual style, imagination and interpretation to their eshort tribute to The Doctor. This is a who's who of children's fiction coming together to celebrate the much-loved Doctor Who."

Doctor Who has been played by a number of actors over the years: William Hartnell (1963-1966); Patrick Troughton (1966-1969); Jon Pertwee (1970-1974); Tom Baker (1974-1981); Peter Davison (1981-1984); Colin Baker (1984-1986); Sylvester McCoy (1987-1989, 1996); Paul McGann (1996); Christopher Eccleston (2005); David Tennant (2005-2010); and Matt Smith, the current Doctor.

We're going to venture a guess and say that Neil Gaiman is one of the authors. He did write an episode of the show, and is a huge Dr. Who fan. We can't wait to see what the authors come up with.